A crop party is a modern quilting bee. A group of friends gather to have girl friend time, sharing joys and sorrows while preserving memories and creating a special keepsake.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Sledding Squirrel



This is an under the wire entry in the Merry Monday Outdoor Activity challenge.  I stamped this squirrel by Inkadinkado with Chocolate, colored it with Prismacolor pencils and backed it with Mistletoe, a very old Close to My Heart paper.  In keeping with the vintage vibe I distressed the edges with chocolate ink.  The sentiment is popped up with foam tape to give the card some dimension.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Kitty Decks the Halls



The Christmas Card Challenges inspiration picture features kitties.  Now I have loved cats all my life and have many stamps featuring them, but this is my favorite, perhaps because Luna, who was adopted as an adult, may have looked like this as a kitten (except for the white paws).




  I heat embossed her with Cocoa pigment ink and clear detail powder and then colored her with Prismacolor pencils.  I sponged the edges of all the light papers to age them in keeping with the vintage feel.  I popped her up with foam tape and embossed the sentiment in gold to give the card some dimension.  Here is the inside:




Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Monday, November 13, 2017

Stained Glass Snowflake





Ever since I saw this video by Jennifer McGuire on what she calls a stained glass technique, I have been wanting to try it.  This Freshly Made Sketch seemed perfect one to try it on while test driving (stamping) my new Tim Holtz Swirly Snowflakes stamp and coordinating die sets.





Essentially you cut the shape and attach a stamped image that has been embossed on heat resistant acetate behind the opening.  This works best with a stamp that has lots of lines.  I will have to warn you about this die set:  There is no border, so positioning the stamped acetate behind the opening so it would line up was tricky.  I ended up lining it up and then holding it in place while I pulled back sections of the acetate and applied adhesive.  Next you put a colored version of the stamp behind the  opening separated by foam tape, so the embossed image floats above.  Jennifer used a sponge dauber to ink the solid layer of a multi-layered set for one set of cards and copic markers to color the image for another.   I used a light blue to stamp the snowflake on a piece of watercolor paper and painted it with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and a watercolor brush with water to spread the color.  I embossed the sentiment and added a lone sparkle to the middle of the snowflake.     Here is a close up shot at an angle to try to show how the embossed acetate snowflake is above the backing color:







Before I did all that, I had to make the background.  I wanted to keep the emphasis on the "stained glass window,"  so instead of using two papers, I used one color and embossed one piece to keep it subtle.  I adhered the two pieces on a piece of printer paper to hold them together because they were not going to be glued directly on the card base.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi


Sunday, November 12, 2017

White on White Snowflakes and Lace





I used this Atlantic Hearts Sketch to create a card for the Paper Players white on white challenge.





I layered die cuts from Stampin' Up's Swirly Snowflakes Thinlets set and embellished with clear sparkles from Close to My heart.  The sentiment is embossed with Ranger's Fine Silver Embossing powder.  It was fun playing with texture to create interest when you don't have color to fall back on.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  White Daisy cardstock from Close to My Heart
Ink:  Versamark
Stamp:  Sing Glory by Claose to My Heart
Embellishments:  Clear sparkles from Close to My Heart and Super Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder by Ranger